Trial Of Aaron Ramsey Begins With Testimony From Wilton Police

Aaron Ramsey of Wilton is charged in the death of his 73-year-old father Edward Ramsey. Three Stamford judges heard the start of the trial Tuesday that could determine Ramsey as having been insane.
Photo Credit: Dru Nadler, Stamford Advocate

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STAMFORD, Conn. – A three-judge panel at Stamford Superior Court heard the beginning of the case Tuesday against Wilton resident Aaron Ramsey, 22, who is charged in the May beating death of his father, Edward Ramsey, 73.

Wilton Police Sgt. Tom Tunney was the first on the witness stand. He was the shift commander on duty when calls came in from a home on Cheese Spring Road about an intruder. Tunney said that when he arrived at the home, he found Ramsey unresponsive and covered in blood.

“There was just so much blood,” Tunney said. Ramsey could not identify himself to the officers, he said, and he doubted that Ramsey even knew police were trying to talk to him. It was only after Ramsey was taken to Norwalk Hospital and a call came in from Ramsey’s mother that they determined Ramsey to be a suspect in his father's death.

Ramsey is charged with first-degree murder in his father's death. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The court also played a 46-minute audio recording of Ramsey’s interview with Wilton Police Officer Robert Cipolla, then an acting detective. During the interview, Ramsey told Cipolla of the events May 3 that ended in the death of his father.

In the recording, Ramsey said he had gotten little sleep the night before. He said he was exercising for his fight against evil and had spent much of the morning trying to find and put the “fakers and manipulators” on trial. Ramsey said that he was being directed to do this by the “voices."

At one point Ramsey said he heard his father playing the piano, which he felt to be hypnotizing him into committing suicide, Cipolla told the court. It was then that Ramsey went inside to confront his father, he said.

After an argument in which Ramsey told Cipolla he felt his father was lying to him, Ramsey said, “I beat him to death” and “I tried to hit him as hard as I could.” He explained in detail how he beat and stabbed his father to death.

Ramsey also said that by killing his father he believed that the “slaves” would be freed and that it would bring his friends and family back together. “I just wanted my friends,” he told Cipolla.

When asked whether he felt bad or sorry about killing his father, Ramsey said “absolutely,” saying that “my intention was to do good.”

Ramsey’s mother and brother were in the courtroom but declined to comment. Ramsey will continue to be held at the Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown, which is part of the Connecticut Valley Hospital system for the mentally ill.

The trial will continue Nov. 28 at 2 p.m. in Stamford with testimony from the Connecticut Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy and from psychiatrist Dr. Justin Schechter.